So adding MERLIN to my feeds was simple enough. I looked around the site a bit and it seems interesting. Although I had to laugh when I saw the link to Second Life. Let's just say I've heard enough about Second Life to be pretty sure I want nothing to do with it...
Searching for feeds was a bit frustrating. Most of the sites I went to--feedster, topix, and syndic8, seemed to throw ads at me no matter what I searched for. I find that kind of thing off-putting, and I'm not into information overload. Most of my internet bookmarks are sites I found through links on sites I already enjoyed, or were suggested to me by friends. I'm just not the type to go looking for up-to-the-minute headlines all the time.
Technorati was the only site that seemed useful. It was all blogs, so I didn't get links to ads, and some of the links were interesting. Nothing I'd want to bookmark, though.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Week Four, Thing 8: RSS Feeds
Here's the link to my public bloglines account:
www.bloglines.com/public/rreznick
It took me way too long to figure out how to do that...
Okay, so I was all set up to blog about how I don't like/don't care about RSS feeds, and then I had to go and subscribe to some interesting ones. Drat!
I grabbed a couple of library feeds, and was pleasantly surprised by how useful they were. For example, I found a good list of books in YA urban fiction, which I happen to be booktalking in a couple of weeks. This list confirmed some of the books I'd already picked, and alerted me to a few titles I didn't know about. Very useful!
Plus, I found out where all The Daily Show videos have gone--to the official website of course, which I now have as a feed. Curse you Viacom! Erm, I mean... how convenient!
www.bloglines.com/public/rreznick
It took me way too long to figure out how to do that...
Okay, so I was all set up to blog about how I don't like/don't care about RSS feeds, and then I had to go and subscribe to some interesting ones. Drat!
I grabbed a couple of library feeds, and was pleasantly surprised by how useful they were. For example, I found a good list of books in YA urban fiction, which I happen to be booktalking in a couple of weeks. This list confirmed some of the books I'd already picked, and alerted me to a few titles I didn't know about. Very useful!
Plus, I found out where all The Daily Show videos have gone--to the official website of course, which I now have as a feed. Curse you Viacom! Erm, I mean... how convenient!
Friday, October 19, 2007
Week Three, Thing 7: Technology
So I'm standing at the information desk the other day, trying to help a woman, when her young son runs up to the desk and interrupts us.
"How do you spell 'tube'"? he asks, bouncing with impatience.
The woman is not a native English speaker and she seems confused by this odd request. I, however, immediately understand her son's pressing desire to spell this word.
"You're looking for YouTube, aren't you?" I say. "Type in y-o-u-t-u-b-e-dot-com."
The boy runs off, leaving his mother to stare at me in consternation. "He wants to watch anime," I explain. I know this because the boy had been looking for manga earlier. She just shakes her head as if to say "oh-these-kids-these-days-and-their-anime-and-their-tubes-or-whatever" and we get back to business.
But it got me thinking--not just about the fact that kids watch anime on youtube, or that this is so common I was dead certain that's what the boy wanted to do, or even that it's not, strictly speaking, legal, but about how youtube, something I wasn't even aware of two years ago, has become such a huge part of my daily life that it's the first thing to pop into my mind when someone says tube, instead of say, hampsters.
Anyway. I had reason to think about this again when my mom and I were watching the Colbert Report the other day. Angry at a bear for eating a copy of his book (don't ask), Stephen decides to throw a copy of a Berenstain Bears book into a blender.
"That'll never blend," says my mother. And it doesn't, really. But it reminds me of the infamous series of videos "Will it Blend?" in which various unlikely items are thrown into a super-blender and, against all odds, blended. These videos have all been put on YouTube, of course.
Here's some choice episodes:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=l69Vi5IDc0g (glowsticks)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KdEVTqINi0s (tiki torch)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NdD54rG9oQA (Chuck Norris)
And there are many, many more. Youtube will gladly find them for you with its "related" feature. Ah, Youtube. Is there anything you can't do?
Edit: Apparently, now there is. The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are no longer available on YouTube. Guess Vaicom finally won their lawsuit...
"How do you spell 'tube'"? he asks, bouncing with impatience.
The woman is not a native English speaker and she seems confused by this odd request. I, however, immediately understand her son's pressing desire to spell this word.
"You're looking for YouTube, aren't you?" I say. "Type in y-o-u-t-u-b-e-dot-com."
The boy runs off, leaving his mother to stare at me in consternation. "He wants to watch anime," I explain. I know this because the boy had been looking for manga earlier. She just shakes her head as if to say "oh-these-kids-these-days-and-their-anime-and-their-tubes-or-whatever" and we get back to business.
But it got me thinking--not just about the fact that kids watch anime on youtube, or that this is so common I was dead certain that's what the boy wanted to do, or even that it's not, strictly speaking, legal, but about how youtube, something I wasn't even aware of two years ago, has become such a huge part of my daily life that it's the first thing to pop into my mind when someone says tube, instead of say, hampsters.
Anyway. I had reason to think about this again when my mom and I were watching the Colbert Report the other day. Angry at a bear for eating a copy of his book (don't ask), Stephen decides to throw a copy of a Berenstain Bears book into a blender.
"That'll never blend," says my mother. And it doesn't, really. But it reminds me of the infamous series of videos "Will it Blend?" in which various unlikely items are thrown into a super-blender and, against all odds, blended. These videos have all been put on YouTube, of course.
Here's some choice episodes:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=l69Vi5IDc0g (glowsticks)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KdEVTqINi0s (tiki torch)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NdD54rG9oQA (Chuck Norris)
And there are many, many more. Youtube will gladly find them for you with its "related" feature. Ah, Youtube. Is there anything you can't do?
Edit: Apparently, now there is. The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are no longer available on YouTube. Guess Vaicom finally won their lawsuit...
Week Five, Thing 6: Flickr Mashups
Awww! I made coffee bunny at the trading card site, but I actually found him with the flickr color pickr. I saw him come up and just had to grab him!
I really liked the color pickr feature. I could definitely see this being useful at my job, when I need to find images that go with my displays or flyers. I had only used google image search to find things before, but I could definitely see myself searching flickr for images in the future. The color pickr is great because my displays are often built around a color theme.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Week Three, Thing 5: Flickr
AWWWWW! Does it say something about me that the first thing I did was search the site for kitty pictures?Yes. Yes it does.
Week Two, Thing Three: Set Up Your Own Blog
I think I'm supposed to copy and paste this:
Welcome to Google Accounts. To activate your account and verify your e-mailaddress, please click on the following link:http://www.google.com/accounts/VE?service=blogger&c=CP7i3uSI85L7hQEQgtvtivLB_-aQAQ&hl=enIf you have received this mail in error, you do not need to take anyaction to cancel the account. The account will not be activated, andyou will not receive any further emails.If clicking the link above does not work, copy and paste the URL in anew browser window instead.Thank you for using Google.For questions or concerns regarding your account, please visit theGoogle Accounts FAQ athttp://www.google.com/support/accounts/.This is a post-only mailing. Replies to this message are not monitored or answered.
Welcome to Google Accounts. To activate your account and verify your e-mailaddress, please click on the following link:http://www.google.com/accounts/VE?service=blogger&c=CP7i3uSI85L7hQEQgtvtivLB_-aQAQ&hl=enIf you have received this mail in error, you do not need to take anyaction to cancel the account. The account will not be activated, andyou will not receive any further emails.If clicking the link above does not work, copy and paste the URL in anew browser window instead.Thank you for using Google.For questions or concerns regarding your account, please visit theGoogle Accounts FAQ athttp://www.google.com/support/accounts/.This is a post-only mailing. Replies to this message are not monitored or answered.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Week One, Thing Two: Pointers From Lifelong Learners
The hardest habit for me is definitely habit 2--accept responsibility for your own learning. I'm terrible at self-motivation. I only push myself when there's a specific deadline to meet or people who are counting on me to come through for them. I can fulfill most of my obligations with this approach (even if I squeak in at the last minute!) but it also means I miss out on enrichment opportunities because I don't seek them out on my own.
The easiest habit for me is habit 7--teach/mentor others. People have told me that I'm a good teacher because I'm patient and I explain things clearly. I don't mind going over something step by step with people who are unfamiliar with it--I often get asked to help people on the computers for this reason. Teaching others also helps me solidify what I've learned in my own head through repetition, so that's an added benefit.
The easiest habit for me is habit 7--teach/mentor others. People have told me that I'm a good teacher because I'm patient and I explain things clearly. I don't mind going over something step by step with people who are unfamiliar with it--I often get asked to help people on the computers for this reason. Teaching others also helps me solidify what I've learned in my own head through repetition, so that's an added benefit.
Week One, Thing One: About This Program
I registered for the 23 things program several weeks ago and I'm just now making my first post! (Guess which of the lifelong learning habits is my weak one...)
Some of the "things" I'm already familiar with and some I'm not. Sharing funny Youtube videos is a weekly ritual for my friends and I, and Wikipedia is often my first choice for finding information online (shameful for a librarian, I know). On the other hand, I've never heard of odeo or bloglines, so that'll be all new.
Let the learning of fun begin!
Some of the "things" I'm already familiar with and some I'm not. Sharing funny Youtube videos is a weekly ritual for my friends and I, and Wikipedia is often my first choice for finding information online (shameful for a librarian, I know). On the other hand, I've never heard of odeo or bloglines, so that'll be all new.
Let the learning of fun begin!
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